Publication Date
Before the year 126 / 744
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;jo;Mon01;1;ar
Library Location
It is located 25 km south of Amman, along the desert road, Al-Qastal, Jordan
Date
Before the year 126 / 744
Notes
This site contains several buildings and facilities: the palace, the mosque, of which only the minaret remains, and the bathroom, in addition to residential units. To the east of the palace there is an advanced water collection system that includes an impermeable dam. The palace takes the shape of a square with a side length of 68 metres. Circular support towers were erected in the corners of the palace, with three semicircular pillars between them on each side, with the exception of the eastern side, in the middle of which the entrance opened. The east side has four semicircular buttresses, two of which flank the entrance. Near the entrance, carved decorations can be seen on the two jambs of the entrance gate and its upper lintel. The entrance leads to a corridor on either side of which a set of steps rises to the top. The entrance, at its far end, overlooks a square-shaped open courtyard (dimensions 40 x 40 m) surrounded by sheds and six residential units distributed according to the “house” system. Each house unit consists of four rooms built around a rectangular courtyard: two rooms on each side that connect to and overlook the open courtyard, so that the house forms an independent residential unit. Most of the floors of the palace rooms and the floors of the sheds were originally paved with colorful mosaic pieces, of which only a few scattered parts remain. To the west of the palace is the cemetery in which many tombstones were found inscribed with Arabic writing, some of which date back to the Umayyad era and some to the early Abbasid era. They are preserved today in the Madaba Archaeological Museum. To the north of the palace is the mosque and the minaret that protrudes from the northwestern corner of the mosque’s courtyard. Its body takes a cylindrical shape and is built on top of a rectangular base. It should be noted here that the importance of this minaret stems from it being the only remaining minaret in the Levant from the Umayyad era. The palace was used in the Mamluk and Ottoman eras as residences and stables.
Sample Text
Mohammad Najjar “Al-Qastal” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;jo;Mon01;1;ar
